This will be the first Father’s Day without Dad being at least a phone call near us. Dad was a special person and so, on this day, I share with you a video montage of Dad as well as the eulogy I presented at his service that explains best how I and others remember my father. Happy Father’s Day Dad!

Dad

It is so very difficult to accept and say that you are gone, but it is easy to say that you will always be with us. You not only will be with us in our hearts and memories, but you also will be with us in the fact that we are a reflection of you.

Whether you knew it or not your teachings and love have molded your sons and made us into the men we are today. We all are self-sufficient. We don’t enter any challenge unprepared or with doubt in our minds. We can do anything because you involved us and taught us to do for ourselves. You did not hold us back or limit our curiosities but fostered our enthusiasm to learn and take on challenges. You taught us to not expect things to be handed to us but for us to be hard working and feel the satisfaction that comes from obtaining rewards through our minds and our hands.

Dad, not only did you teach us that we can do anything we put our minds to, but you taught us to share these skills to help others. We saw in you a very giving person who was quick to jump in whenever a need presented itself, even if the endeavor was inconvenient or required great effort. The people you touched with your kindness and giving nature is countless. Paying it forward was always your way of living even before the term was coined.

Dad, you shaped us by sharing your love of the outdoors. From taking us fishing in local lakes to fishing and camping in the high Sierras. You got us involved in Scouting where your heavy involvement not only supported our exposure to much more experiences than we would have otherwise had, but left us with lasting memories like your cracked ribs from sliding down snow banks like a big kid to our trip to Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico and the adventures along the way.

Your attention to detail and your conveyance of the importance of exacting standards was passed along by teaching us the fine art of placing tinsel on the Christmas tree, one painful strand at a time. Is there really any other way?

Dad, your sense of humor also made it into our personalities. Fortunately, your ability to put up with our practical jokes was without equal. From having cigarettes explode in your face to your taking a big lick of what you thought was whip cream, only to shockingly learn it was the shaving cream we’d put in your hand while you were sleeping in an attempt to get you to wipe it on your face when we tickled your nose.

We will miss the little things too, like the memories of the occasional treat of going to get an ice cream, to your awesome skill at running a hand of Hearts.

Dad, we hope that we have done you justice by taking the good that we learned from you, folding it into our genetic structure and our actions, and passing this treasure on to our children and our grandchildren. Your life is a legacy that will only grow and spread for it not only lives on in our wonderful memories of you, but in the others you have touched. And the essence of you will continue to spread in the strong, hardworking generations to come.

We will love you always.

About the author Entrepreneur Jeff Lambert is the President and founder of JVHM, Inc., a software development business located in the San Francisco Bay Area but serving clients around the globe. Jeff's expertise includes website design and development, Facebook development, blogging integration, SEO, video production, CRM systems, database design and development and more. In his "spare" time Jeff likes to hang out with his family, run, play tennis and, until recently, was Scoutmaster with a local Boy Scout troop.

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